For many years John Jarrett was a resident of Buncombe County. In later life, he lived on the western bank of the French Broad River at the place where the old Smith Bridge once stood (now a concrete bridge) near Asheville. There had never been a bridge across the river to Asheville, so when John Jarrett purchased Sam’s Ferry, he kept it for many years as a toll ferry, and it became known as Jarrett’s Ferry. Later, he sold it with the adjoining land to James M. Smith who constructed a bridge known as Smith’s Bridge. It was still a toll bridge when it was sold to the county and replaced by an iron structure in 1881.
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